Tennis
Ruthless Nadal downs Ferrer
2012-06-08 16:10
Paris - Rafael Nadal defeated fellow
Spaniard David Ferrer 6-2, 6-2, 6-1 on Friday to reach the French Open
final where he will bid to become the first man to win seven titles at
Roland Garros.
His opponent in Sunday's championship match will be
either top seed Novak Djokovic of Serbia or third seed Roger Federer of
Switzerland, who were playing their semi-final immediately afterwards.
Seeded
second, despite winning six titles here in the last seven years, Nadal
once again proved to have too much power and drive for his close friend,
who was bidding to reach a Grand Slam final for the first time in what
was his 37th campaign.
"I probably played my best match here at Roland Garros this year," said Nadal.
"I am sorry for David to lose like this. He is one of my best friends on the tour and one of the best claycourters.
"It was a fantastic match for me and I am so happy to be in another final at Roland Garros."
Nadal's
straight sets victory over another Spaniard, Nicolas Almagro, in the
quarter-finals brought up his 50th win at Roland Garros against just the
one defeat - to Swede Robin Soderling in the 2009 fourth round.
The
26-year-old Spaniard had the added motivation this year of a seventh
title win at Roland Garros, which would snap a tie with Swedish legend
Bjorn Borg.
It would also be his 11th Grand Slam title, putting him level with Borg and Rod Laver.
Ferrer
carried into the match a 4-15 head-to-head record against Nadal, but he
had defeated him twice in Grand Slams - at the 2007 US Open last 16 and
at the 2011 Australian Open quarter-finals.
His only win over him on clay, however, dated back to their first encounter eight years ago when Nadal was just 17.
Ferrer opened well with a love service game and he more than held his own in the early exchanges.
The
sixth seed set up the first two break points of the match in the fourth
game, but the steely resolve of Nadal denied him a 3-1 lead.
The man they know as "The Bulldozer" immediately paid the price as the defending champion broke him to love.
Two
games later Nadal produced another love break to take a 5-2 lead and
already an all too familiar pattern had once again been set.
Nadal tucked away the set 6-2, prompting a change of shirt for Ferrer from white to pink.
But
the result in the second set was much the same with Nadal at one point
winning a marathon rally during which he hit one shot sitting on the
court after losing his footing.
Nadal secured a third break of
serve to lead 4-1 after which the heavens opened to give Ferrer some
respite from the Nadal assault.
Play resumed 55 minutes later and Nadal wasted no time in going two sets up with two holds of serve.
Ferrer's
second double fault of the match opened the way for Nadal to break
serve again at the start of the third set and Ferrer was left with a
mountain to climb.
He never looked likely of doing that as Nadal
swept into the final for the seventh time in eight years on the back of
his 51st match win.